The impression of influence : legislator communication, representation, and democratic accountability / Justin Grimmer, Sean J. Westwood, and Solomon Messing
Cover; The Impression of Influence; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; List of Illustrations; List of Tables; Acknowledgments; 1 Representation, Spending, and the Personal Vote; 2 Solving the Representative's Problem and Creating the Representative's Opportunity; 3 How Legislators Create an Impression of Influence; 4 Creating an Impression, Not Just Increasing Name Recognition; 5 Cultivating an Impression of Influence with Actions and Small Expenditures; 6 Credit, Deception, and Institutional Design; 7 Criticism and Credit: How Deficit Implications Undermine Credit Allocation
8 Representation and the Impression of Influence9 Text as Data: Methods Appendix; Bibliography; Index
Summary
Constituents often fail to hold their representatives accountable for federal spending decisions-even though those very choices have a pervasive influence on American life. Why does this happen? Breaking new ground in the study of representation, The Impression of Influence demonstrates how legislators skillfully inform constituents with strategic communication and how this facilitates or undermines accountability. Using a massive collection of Congressional texts and innovative experiments and methods, the book shows how legislators create an impression of influence through credit claiming messages
